Day 80: Texas is SO BIG

We started this Texas crossing journey at I-10 mile marker 880, and now we are at less than 200!

Today’s drive was set-up in my mind to be long and super boring. It was indeed long, but the scenery was spectacular. Only the last hour was the barren sage brush and dessert landscape I thought we would see the whole time. There were lots of “high wind warning” signs, but I was so excited when we didn’t have that the first hour. We weren’t as fortunate for the rest of the drive; it was definitely a “double hand on the wheel” kind of drive day.

Mondays are loaded with school calls for the kids, so that helped pass a lot of the time. When they were both done having computer time in the afternoon, Cooper hopped in the front seat. The three of us then sent “text” messages to each other with their pretend computers and phones. If you want someone to hear you, be sure to say “send” at the end of your comment.

We had the fun surprise of racing a train the last portion of our trip, as it seemed to slow down near where we were staying the night (Van Horn, TX).

Traveling west the sun setting can be brutal on the eyes until the beautiful sunset happens. We have a nightshade you can lower so far down like a visor in a car, but there is a ~30 minute window when the sun is below that, but still bright in the sky and you just stare right into it. At sunset we settled in at the new campground and walked around a bit before enjoying leftovers Pop Pop had sent us with. Checking my watch, I had only 2,500 steps today 16k+ the day before. Drive days mean a lot of sitting.